Outdoor locations can often require the use of a portable lighting system to provide illumination during nighttime hours. In some cases, the locations may be relatively remote, such as oil and gas drilling rigs, highway road construction sites, rural based festivals and concerts, campsites, etc., where electrical power from an existing power grid-based power source may be unavailable or inconveniently accessed.
A portable lighting system may include a retractable tower to raise and lower a high intensity LED or similar electric lamp to provide nighttime illumination over a large area. Other features can be included as well such as video cameras, recording equipment, sensors, communication/uplink modules, etc.
It is common to employ a fossil-fuel (e.g., diesel) powered generator in order to generate the requisite electrical power for a portable lighting system. While operable, portable generators have a number of limitations such as noise, environmental pollution, maintenance, fuel costs and fuel transportation requirements. These and other limitations can be particularly undesirable in remote wilderness areas as well as high traffic construction work zones.
Some more recently proposed designs for portable lighting systems utilize one or more solar energy collection units (solar panels) which are deployed to collect electromagnetic energy from the sun during daylight hours. The collected energy is transduced to provide a flow of electrical current which is used to charge a bank of rechargeable batteries. The batteries are charged during the day and used to power the system during the night and, as required, during the day as well.
While operable, there remains a need for improvements in the manner in which solar power can be used to charge a portable lighting system. It is to these and other improvements that the present disclosure is directed.